Ohio State men's basketball: Craft's misses costly in defeat

Friday

Nov 30, 2012 at 12:01 AMNov 30, 2012 at 10:12 AM

No one took the loss at Duke harder than Aaron Craft.

Bob Baptist, The Columbus Dispatch

No one took the loss at Duke harder than Aaron Craft.

A two-year starter for Ohio State, a preseason All-Big Ten selection, a dynamo on defense and calm conductor of the offense, he had more put on his plate this season. With the departure of Jared Sullinger and William Buford, the Buckeyes also need him to score more.

He didn't on Wednesday night in a 73-68 loss to the No. 2 Blue Devils. He wasn't the only one, but his struggles were the most noticeable down the stretch as the Buckeyes gave up a lead they had for more than 28 minutes.

"You've got to give them credit," a somber Craft said of the Blue Devils (7-0), who limited Ohio State to 33.8 percent shooting, but "I just missed shots, plain and simple. The majority of my shots were wide open and I missed them."

What made him feel worse was that he knew his teammates were looking to him to make a difference in the second half, to lead their response to Duke's persistent surge that gradually turned the tide against the No. 4 Buckeyes (4-1), especially with the Blue Devils focused on taking away the room Deshaun Thomas had to score.

Thomas led Ohio State (4-1) with 16 points, but he was scoreless after his three-pointer with 8:26 left gave the Buckeyes a 51-46 lead. At that point, Duke pretty much decided to pay him extra attention while allowing Craft open looks.

Neither Craft nor anyone else was capable of taking up Thomas' slack. Ohio State made only four of its last 12 shots, and two came in the final 10 seconds with the Buckeyes down by six points. Craft and Evan Ravenel had the only field goals in a span of more than eight minutes in which Duke turned a five-point deficit into a lead of as much of eight by outscoring the Buckeyes 20-7.

Ohio State never regained the upper hand after losing it with 5:41 remaining on the second of back-to-back three-pointers by forward Ryan Kelly, who was open for both on the right wing because of what Thomas said was "miscommunication" between him and teammates.

Craft and guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. were Ohio State's only other scorers in double figures with 11 points apiece. They are the team's top two scoring options behind Thomas, but Craft missed 12 of 15 shots and Smith 8 of 12. The first guard off the bench, Shannon Scott, missed 7 of 8.

Ohio State led by eight points at halftime because of its defense and offensive rebounding that produced a six-point advantage in second-chance points. Duke neutralized both advantages in the second half and outscored the Buckeyes 50-37.

Ohio State coach Thad Matta said he thought Duke's defensive pressure, particularly that of point guard Quinn Cook, "got a bit to" Craft as the game wore on. Craft had only one assist, and his three turnovers were as many as he had in the first four games combined.

"Aaron had some great looks at the basket," Matta said, "and they just didn't go down for him."